Republic Services Helps Every Third Saturday

This month, we were thrilled to be able to bring Republic Services, Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans, Nokomis East Neighborhood Association, MidCountry Bank, Boston Scientific, Empirehouse, and Biffs together to support local veterans by making improvements to Every Third Saturday’s soon-to-be new Minneapolis location.  Every Third Saturday provides services to veterans in need and their families.  Together, we renovated the facility and built a community garden, and we celebrated the day with a tree planting ceremony dedicated to veterans. In addition, the event also included a Veterans’ Service Fair offering services for homeless and struggling veterans and their families.

We are grateful to everyone who came together to make this project possible!  By providing repairs and improvements to Every Third Saturday’s new facility, we will enhance their ability to serve veterans in need in our community. Check out some of the news coverage of our project at Every Third Saturday here and here.

Boston Scientific Makes Zack’s House a Home

We were thrilled to partner with 30 Boston Scientific volunteers on June 13th to landscape at Zack Mohs’ house in South St. Paul.

Zack grew up in South St. Paul and was nearly killed after being run over and dragged by a hit-and-run driver while trying to cross an intersection in Anchorage, Alaska in 2012. He was in a coma for a month and suffered a traumatic brain injury, fractured vertebrae, an amputated leg and broken bones.  Zack is in a wheelchair and is still undergoing outpatient physical and occupational therapy at the Courage Center.

The Builders Association of the Twin Cities (BATC) Foundation has been working with Zack and his mother, Cheryl, to help build an accessible home for Zack on land Cheryl purchased in South St. Paul.  Through generous contributions from BATC’s members and funds raised through Barnraisings, Zack’s home has become a reality.

With the support and hard work of Boston Scientific volunteers, we were able to help make Zack’s house more of a home this month.  Volunteers landscaped the yard and exterior of the home, including laying sod and planting flowers and bushes.

Thank you to everyone who has come together to bring Zack home!

Rebuilding Together Twin Cities Partners with Boston Scientific and HandsOn Twin Cities to Repair Community Center in Blaine

We were thrilled to partner with HandsOn Twin Cities and Boston Scientific on August 23rd to repair to the Centennial Square Manufactured Home Community Center in Blaine. More than 30 volunteers installed grab bars in the restroom, updated interior paint and lighting, replaced broken playground equipment, added new outlets for computers, and more.

The Centennial Square Manufactured Home Community is the second largest of its kind in Minnesota with 570 homes. The Community Center provides services for more than 225 youth from the community, including after-school activities, homework help, mentorship, Boys and Girls Club activities, English as a second language instruction, and other youth activities.  Forest Gregory, the Executive Director for Youth Way Ministries, originally requested these updates to the community center. Gregory runs an evening meal program, along with a variety of recovery and 12-step programs, for the adults and families in the Centennial Square Community at the Community Center. He also works with local grocery stores to collect food that doesn’t meet the store standards, as well as local schools to collect unused meals from the lunch program, and distributes this food at the Community Center for no cost.

Thank you to Boston Scientific and HandsOn Twin Cities for partnering with us to make these improvements to the community center!